Intimations. 33 



the half- whispered " that's so" that fills the room 

 when the orator makes a hit, will readily recognize 

 the subdued ca-a-a that is simultaneously uttered 

 by the whole assembly when a more than usually 

 emphatic caw caw! rings through the tree-tops. 

 Such a crow convention is said to be a sign of 

 spring, and on such a day as this one can well 

 accept it as such. But here an ugly fact crops 

 out that robs the saying of its poetry : the con- 

 vention is much more regular than the season, and 

 when, as sometimes happens, we have no spring, 

 the crows convene just the same. 



There were crows to-day, but only about the 

 river, where, by reason it may be of unconscious 

 imitation, they rose and fell, swooped and curved 

 with all the grace of the gulls, with which they 

 associated. But the blackbirds were the feature 

 of the day, and a chorus from a thousand throats 

 should, as it did, draw the sting of winter from the 

 air. Bird music will warm the chilliest of days, 

 because of our ever associating it only with spring 

 or summer. Not that we should do so, for there 

 are scores of winter birds that make the dreary 

 way-sides ring with gladness. Like the crows, 



